Posts Tagged ‘M5’

Long Beach is quickly becoming one of my favorite venues for automotive events. This weekend, our friends from Weksos Industries made the trek down to Los Angeles to hold yet another Wekfest event in Southern Cali. Even though the event is pronounced "weak-fest" and their company name is pronounced "weak sauce," the turnout was anything but weak. Lowlife car owners from all over California and Nevada scraped their oilpans all the way to the Queen Mary to show off their first class wheel fitment. Read more...

Whether you own a BMW or not, it's really tough to not be blown away by the sheer number of high quality cars that made it to MFest VI in Las Vegas. Even though we didn't even get an ounce of sleep the night before, the caravan, event, and parties were so fun that we had no problem going nonstop throughout the weekend!

Reporting live from Sin City, the 2012 MFest is already underway... and it's getting HECTIC over here! MFest is much more than a BMW meet. MFest is much more than a BMW car show, and it's definitely more than a run-of-the-mill track day. What started out as a meeting of BMW M-cars has turned into an entire takeover of the Las Vegas Strip, with hundreds and hundreds of cars mobbing the freeways to Vegas in a huge caravan, averaging roughly 100mph (although, honestly, I saw some people that had to be going MUCH faster than 120 because of the speed at which they passed us on the 15 North!).

While there were plenty of M-powered caravans (we're talking multiple M cars, not Dodge Caravans with M engines) driving from other states, we drove along with the Southern California group, and it was super fun!!! While everyone else is out pre-partying it up at Lavo inside The Palazzo, we're sitting in our suite next door at The Venetian uploading pictures into the new gallery we made, which contains Images From MFest 2012.

Now our readers can see what the MFest experience is like, whether they're with us in Vegas, or chillin out at home. Enjoy the images, and if you're here at MFest with us, please upload YOUR own photos into the shared gallery linked above, so everyone can see your MFest photos too! Read more...

This weekend, while I was out of town handling some family business, drifting sharpshooter Larry Chen was out at Hollywood Park attending the media preview day of DC Shoes founder Ken Block's Gymkhana Invitational. I'm pretty disappointed that I wasn't able to make it to the event myself, as I absolutely LOVE gymkhana.

For those who don't know, gymkhana is kind of like a cross between autocross (slalom/solo racing in a parking lot, in a course laid out with cones) and drifting. Back before I started working the media end of the drifting scene, I was pretty active in driving at autocross events. It's fun, it improves your driving skills, and it's not too expensive.

Ken Block isn't the first person to try to organize a gymkhana event though. Erik Jacobs from DG Trials in Atlanta GA was the first person that I had ever heard of trying to make a series of drifting and gymkhana events... this was back around 2004 or so, when drifting was just beginning to blow up! To put things in perspective, back then, Vaughn Gittin Jr was still working on getting sponsored by Falken, and he was driving an S13 240SX, not a Ford Mustang! Read more...

While other members of the MotorMavens Crew were out getting attacked by windstorms in Las Vegas, those of us who decided to stay in Southern California for the weekend attended the2010Bimmerfest. I'll admit... with a background in Japanese cars, this was the very first Bimmerfest I've ever attended. Before I go any further, I think I need to take a moment to congratulate (and give ultimate props to) Bimmerfest founder Jon Shafer.

The amount of BMWs (and their owners) that attended the event was just RIDICULOUS! No, seriously... ridiculous! When I exited off the 210 freeway, I (and my 5 series BMW touring) immediately joined the fray of BMWs making their way to the Rose Bowl, which was made famous by holiday football games and slow moving floats parading through Pasadena city streets. Creeping through traffic at a snail's pace, I followed the long line of cars with license plates from New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oregon, and New Mexico... chuckling to myself, thinking "I wonder how many of these guys think I'm here to put my car in the show? I'm just here to shoot coverage of the event and do a little carspotting!"

Truth be told, even though I've been to BMW Welt in Munich, experienced the Autobahn, and stayed overnight at Hotel Am Tiergarten/Pistenklause (the small hotel/restaurant owned by BMW ringtaxi driver Sabine Schmitz's family) that sits inside the Nurburgring... even though my trip to Deutschland actually inspired me to buy a 5 series BMW wagon, I still don't see myself as a "BMW guy." Read more...

Even though everyone else in the United States is still feeling the effects of the country's economic slump, I'm happy to observe and report that the Formula Drift series has been growing! Not only have new non-endemic (non-automotive) sponsors joined the series for 2010, but the attendance at both the Long Beach and Atlanta rounds of Formula Drift have been out of control, with seats completely packed! I'm really amazed to think that I've been watching Formula D grow into a stronger and stronger series from the very beginning. I've been traveling to all these events and documenting the growth of the series ever since it started out, with it's inaugural round in Atlanta in 2004. Formula Drift, you've come a long way, baby.

Not only has the series progressed businesswise, but the media outlets, drivers, and cars have all been stepping their game up to become more powerful, making Formula Drift a serious force to be reckoned with, on a worldwide stage. I bet the people who run the D1GP series in Japan are thinking, "Damn yo! That could have been us!" (Although they probably wouldn't be saying it in those words.)

Enough of my theory and random thoughts on the state of drifting in America though... let's get down to business! After all, the reason why people come to MotorMavens is because they like our taste in cars! So let's get down to it - our first installment of my insider's look at Formula D Atlanta. Let's go! Read more...

While I was cruising the Bimmerforums website last night, I came across this particular E39 BMW 5 Series sedan that really impressed me. This car was built by a Bay Area Bimmer owner that goes by the screen name of PavelK313. This E39 just looks right. Pavel didn’t even need to modify the bumpers, mirrors and all that jazz, because he concentrated his efforts on what really matters – the STANCE.

There was actually a lot of debate on the Bimmerforums about his low stance, his stretched tires, etc… can you believe that some people actually DIDN’T like it?! I laughed out loud when I read some comments from Bimmer owners that mentioned the same old things that anti-tire-stretch people say when they see outstanding feats of mathematics like this one. “I hate stretched tires. They make your classy car look ghetto, like a lowrider Impala! Tire stretch is stupid because it lessens your contact patch with the ground!” Oh, and let’s not forget, my absolute favorite… “I hope you like curb rashed lips on your wheels, because that’s what you’re gonna get if you stretch your tires!” LOL (more…)

One day this week while I was organizing my photos from this past weekend's Nisei Showoff carshow in Little Tokyo, my homie Matt came over and showed me this link to a forum post that included some photos that car owners took at Nisei. It was funny, because normally when I chill with Matt and his girlfriend Joyce, we only talk about which dope grub spots we should hit up next time we kick it (They love us on Yelp! LOL Add me if you want) and going to Japan. The first time I met Matt and Joyce, it was at the Boiling Crab in SGV, and then in line for Kogi in Little Tokyo for crying out loud! So thanks to the homie Matt, I was able to find these pretty dope Nisei Showoff photos from Hasback Photography.

So as I finish organizing my own photos of the 2009 Nisei Showoff Grand Finale and prepare them for posting (I should have like 3 more posts to make on the last Nisei Showoff), I thought I should shine some light on these photos, which were taken by a non-pro photographer that I don't even know. Good work Hasback! Now on to the pics... Read more...